My summer vacation typically consists of occasionally admiring the exotic beach scene on my computer wallpaper. I don't get the opportunity to take a lot of vacation time in the summer, but this year I have a 4-day weekend for Independence Day, so I tried to convince my homebody husband to take me to the beach. It's too crowded, he says. It's too hot. It's too boring. After three days of badgering he finally consented - to let me go by myself. Not exactly what I was aiming for, but it'll do. I didn't want to be completely alone on my vacation, though, so I bought myself a round trip ticket to my hometown in Indiana, where there are friends, family and a pretty darn good beach! I'm actually pretty excited about a week away from the responsibilities of my house, husband, pets, and child. Control freak that I am, though, I can't just leave them helpless and uncared for, so I'm sure I'll clean the house before I go, fill all the prescriptions, plan out the menu, and do all the grocery shopping. And I'll probably call them every night to make sure the pets are fed, the litter box is emptied, and the oven is turned off. But at least I don't have to cook for a week, or pick up all the miscellaneous junk they leave lying around! Maybe I better call right before I come home, just to remind them to clean up after themselves.
Another cool thing going on this month is the youth group beach trip. My munchkin gets a week at the beach sans parents and we get to eat grown up food for 5 straight nights. Usually I have Rachel help me make dinner so she can learn from the master, but with her gone, I intend to keep food prep as simple as possible. Enter my beloved Crock-Pot. If you notice a week of practically no-prep meals, you'll know why. You may also notice a week of mostly grilled meals. While the oven seems to intimidate my manly man, the flaming grates of the BBQ excite him. I figured he was more likely to cook and not just make PBJs every day if I planned a grill-centric menu for him.
If you'd like to take advantage of my menu this month, feel free to print it out from the link below. On the menu, you'll see Aldi and Walmart written on the days I intend to visit each store. The shopping list links below correspond, so you'll know what to buy if you want to make all the meals planned for this month. I don't list basic pantry staples, so you should always double check the recipes to make sure you have the supplies you need. My pantry may be a little better stocked than the average home cook, but I tried to add anything too out of the ordinary to the list. I think Aldi's prices are better than Walmart's, but they just don't have everything I need, so I almost always have to make a trip to Walmart. Anything I can't get at Aldi doesn't show up on the menu till after the Walmart trip. If an ingredient isn't needed till after the Walmart trip, I listed it on the Walmart list, but I try to buy any non-perishables that I need for the month at Aldi. YOU can feel free to shop wherever you darn well please; those are just my suggestions!
If you have any questions or suggestions about my menu or shopping list, feel free to ask in the comments section below. Also, if you want to simplify grocery shopping, install the Grocery IQ app on your smart phone and I can sent the lists straight to your phone! I even like to save my menu to the ibooks app on my phone so I can take a peek at it anytime I want. I hope this menu keeps your tummy happy this summer!
July 2013 Menu
Aldi List July 2013
Walmart List July 2013
Before I got married, dinner was usually McDonald's, or a frozen pizza, or a box of Hamburger Helper if I was really in the cooking mood. After I tied the knot, I figured I ought to make better meals for my husband, but I started teaching in a new school that was quite a ways from home, (K-8th grade in a one-room school house in rural Michigan!) and by the time I got home in the evening I was way too brain dead to come up with a great dinner idea. Plus, I never had all the ingredients on hand, so then I'd have to go to the grocery store, which was always crowded right after work, and very well-stocked with unhealthy convenience items that looked a whole lot easier than whatever meal plan I had come up with. So I would frequently eat a candy bar in the check out lane while buying a bucket of fried chicken from the deli section. Clearly, I needed a better plan. That's when I subscribed to Quick Cooking magazine and started making a monthly menu and shopping list. Ten years later, I can't even imagine trying to improvise a dinner plan at the end of a work day, and my routines are so ingrained I get a little anxious if someone even rearranges my spice rack. (Don't even get me started on how my husband "organizes" my Tupperware cupboard!)
Nowadays, Pinterest is my recipe box, I create my menu in PDF form and store it in a Dropbox folder so I can access it anywhere, and I use the Grocery IQ app to organize all my grocery lists and sync them with my husband's phone so even he knows what we need whenever he stops at a store. I've had several people tell me I ought to share my menu plans with the rest of the tired and hungry world, and with all these newfangled innovations, I finally can! Technology is a beautiful thing, I gotta tell ya.
So, if you are one of those people who's been begging me to share my menu with you, today's your lucky day. Below is a link to my June 2013 menu. Now keep in mind, I make this with my family in mind and this may not work for your family at all! I like to try unique recipes, so many of the items on this menu are things I've never even tried. I claim no responsibility for how good they taste. I just know they looked good! All the recipes with an asterisk * can be found on my Pinterest boards, under Main Dishes or Side Dishes. If I've made the recipe before, I always make comments under the pin so I can remember what I thought about it. You will notice that there are no recipes listed on Fridays because that is my 13 year old daughter's day to practice her developing chef skills. If you have kids, I highly recommend you assign them kitchen duty a few days a month. Sooner than you can imagine, they will be out on their own, buying frozen pizzas for their own families if you don't teach them how to cook! Most of the items on my menu can be made in 30-45 minutes. I usually save the longer recipes for the weekends. If anything needs to be done ahead, there's a note about it above the item. Sundays are for less kid-friendly items. Feel free to rearrange this however you like, but keep in mind that I usually put recipes that call for the freshest produce closest to grocery day. The menu is in PDF form, so you can print it out and stick it on your fridge or save it to ibooks, or pull it up on your laptop, or all three!
I've also included links to my grocery lists for the month. I try to make two big trips a month: once to Aldi, because their prices are the best in town, and once to Wal-Mart, because their prices are second best and they have all the stuff that Aldi doesn't. You will see the store names on the menu on the days I plan to go to each store. Everything you need to buy to make all the meals on my menu are on those lists, except for pantry staples that I assume most everybody has. A smart woman keeps the stuff she regularly needs on hand, but a wise woman checks to make sure before she goes to the store. = D The grocery lists are also in PDF form, but if you want to simplify shopping time, I highly recommend you install the Grocery IQ app on your smartphone or tablet. If you do, send me an email at spikeypj@yahoo.com and I can even sync my list to yours!
Since this is my first time sharing my menu, I welcome any suggestions you have to make it more user-friendly. Drop me a note to let me know if you used it and how it worked for you!
June 2013 Menu
Aldi List June 2013
Walmart List June 2013
